russkiblog

Check out Pauline's sweet 'stache

2011-10-08T12:15:00.001-05:00

Check out Pauline's sweet 'stache, a photo by elisabethp on Flickr.

On break

2008-12-01T22:23:00.001-06:00

I've decided to take a break due to demands from my job.

I hope I don't lose all my Russian language knowledge because I intend to keep learning when my job settles down!

Robin Williams Russian improv

2008-11-28T18:54:00.003-06:00

I saw Robin Williams on The Graham Norton Show this weekend. I was surprised that he actually knows a few words of Russian and a few words of French well enough to use them during his improv. I can't imagine speaking Russian well enough to make jokes on TV!

New word, but no new flashcard

2008-11-19T18:32:00.001-06:00

I learned a new word today, пиндосы (pindosy), but I've made the executive decision to not make flashcards for naughty words.

old school flashcards

2008-11-12T20:33:00.005-06:00

I know, I know, flashcards are so old school.
I decided my lack of vocabulary progression requires drastic measures, so flashcards it is.
These two cards are
муха 'fly'
внезапно 'suddenly'
which are words I recently read on languagehat.
These flashcards are both printed and scripted in Russian so that I can become more familiar with script. I don't yet know all the rules of writing script, so I am just doing my best.

tag(s): Russian Language

Why do you learn another language?

2008-11-11T09:05:00.003-06:00

Last night an acquaintance asked me why I learn lots of languages. Is it for work or for fun? Then I wondered, do people think that language learning is a drudgery?

Why does anyone strive to be multi-lingual? Are there many jobs which require multi-lingualism from people who don't want to learn more languages? Internet, please enlighten me!

изак, кошка

2008-10-10T18:38:00.007-05:00

We had a sad summer when one of our cats, Simon, died unexpectedly. He was a very playful, affectionate, gentle cat and his absence is acutely felt. Even today it is hard to believe that he is gone.

Last week we adopted a kitten. He's Korat and we named him изак. We adopted him from the pound, where he had been bitten by a mean, adult cat. His health has been making great progress since we brought him home and he loves his new home where he gets lots of attention.

Asian Grocery

2008-05-28T16:55:00.011-05:00

I popped into the local Asian grocery shop this afternoon to get a break from the office and to get out of the never-ending rain. I was hoping to find some Russian items- perhaps caviar, chocolates, or tea. Instead the aisles were filled with east Asian delights such as preserved duck eggs,

fish snack,

Snake Brand prickly heat powder,

and a little bit of jasmine rice.

The Neighbor

2008-05-27T19:27:00.002-05:00

OK, so I still can't get the neighbor to talk to me. However, I've almost decided that she's not speaking Russian. The problem is that I can't get close enough to really hear what she's saying. She goes silent when I get close enough to potentially make out clear syllables.

In the meantime, I decided to distract myself with some Portuguese lessons. I feel so dorky when speaking Brazilian Portuguese! Why? The only reason I can conjure up is that I have never heard Brazilian Portuguese spoken in real life, so it sounds really artificial when I fumble a few words out. Beside Portuguese, the only other language that I've studied, but never heard in real life, is Esperanto. I felt pretty dorky with Esperanto, too, but that might be for a different reason.

stalking neighbors

2008-05-01T21:56:00.003-05:00

We have new neighbors down the way. It is a blond woman, a plump man, a little blond girl, and a big dog. I think I heard the woman speaking Russian. When I smile and say hello, she turns her head away and acts like she doesn't hear me. Her little girl is cute and friendly, but each time that the little girl makes neighborly eye contact with me, the woman yells at her.

I haven't heard the woman speaking in her native language long enough to make out if it is truly Russian or another slavic sounding language. I think this means that I need to do some more neighborly ~~spying~~ chatting.

борщ

2008-03-09T21:14:00.004-05:00

This evening I was treated to a very fancy and fun supper at The Russia House in Herndon, VA. Two great friends chose this restaurant since they know I'm studying Russian. Not only did they chose a great restaurant, but they chauffeured me to and from my hotel and paid for the whole supper. I didn't realize that I was being treated to a birthday meal, so I ordered up lots of stuff from the menu and really ran up the tab! What great friends!

The restaurant itself was warm and friendly. I liked the heavy, red draperies and interesting art. Overall the restaurant owners impressed me because they were very attentive to my vegan nutritional constraints.

I loved The Russia House's borscht. I can't believe I waited so long to try this popular Russian dish. I have had some bad experiences with beets in the past, so I was never terribly keen on trying borscht. However, I had a fantastic beet dish while in Geneva recently, so I decided to give beets a second chance and I am glad I did. For me the borscht was served without sour cream and I loved the flavor of the fresh beets and vegetables. I will definitely chose to order борщ again at my future Russian meals.

Sorry, I should have taken some photos for you, but I forgot.

tag(s): Russian food

My annual comparison of language learning tools.

2007-12-11T21:12:00.000-06:00

Periodically I am asked about my opinions of various self-paced language learning tools, but I am sometimes reluctant to comment on this topic.

I am an independent user of language learning tools and I have lots of opinions based solely on my personal experience of purchasing and/or using them for learning Russian.

I previously gave a comparison of Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone on this blog. I did not, however, recommend one over the other because I feel that they should be used with different purposes in mind. Pimsleur focuses primarily on conversational skills and you get nearly immediate satisfaction from using it; Rosetta Stone offers instructions in reading comprehension, spelling, listening to vocabulary words and phrases, speaking with speech analysis tools. It has lots of bells and whistles and does not use the speaker's native language as part of the instruction process.

Before choosing your tools, I think that you need to understand what your ultimate language learning goal is. Do you want to travel to that country and be a tourist? Do you want to read a novel in that target language? Do you want to correspond with people in the target language? Do you plan to study abroad? If you need to learn conversational skills, then Pimsleur is the best way to work on this goal in your home. (The very best way is immersion, of course.) If your goal is more for reading and writing, then you can choose from several options including Rosetta Stone or Mango Languages.

Since Mango Languages is currently free, I think that everybody should at least check it out once. It is in beta test, so you may find bugs and it may not have as many bells and whistles as Rosetta Stone. The one thing that I dislike about Mango Languages is that it does use your native language as the instructional language. However, it is online 24-7, free, easy to use, and fun.

I have used several other language learning packages that I don't talk about much on this blog because I wasn't impressed with them. They will remain nameless here, but they are mostly comprised of textbooks with accompanying audio dialogs. I have never been able to learn much from these methods when used in a self-paced setting. I did begin learning French by using a textbook, audio dialogs, and classroom instruction when I was very young... but I ultimately became fluent in French by living in France. When you have to eat salad with no salad dressing for 8 weeks because you don't know the word for salad dressing, this makes a lasting impression....
(It's called "la sauce" in French. How stupid did I feel when I finally figured that out?!?)

As a side note, I have had some problems running Rosetta Stone on my Mac (v 10.4.11). I plan to call the Rosetta Stone people in Virgina this week for technical assistance. One problem with the Rosetta Stone format is that the lessons are on discs and you MUST use the disc each time you access your lessons; if the disc get scratched, you're in trouble. I've had great past experiences with their customer service, so I'll keep you posted.

tag(s): Pimsleur Mango Languages Rosetta Stone Russian Language

Review of Mango Languages Beta Software

2007-11-29T21:44:00.000-06:00

Today I decided to try out the Mango Languages software. It's an online language learning software for self-paced, self-acquired, second language. There are lots of languages to choose from, most are geared towards English speakers.

After registering, I started out by trying the Use Mango tab and selecting Russian for English speakers. It uses Flash Player 9 to show slides with the lessons. Your progress is charted by showing the number of slides you've completed. The first Russian lesson has 71 slides- that was a bit daunting to me.

Instructions are given by an English speaker. Russian phrases are spoken by a native Russian speaker with accompanying Russian text on the screen.

The first few slides were easy, since they are a repeat of what I've learned in Pimsleur. However, since Pimsleur is only listening and speaking, it was a bit strange to see the written text on the screen.

After the first few slides, I was in uncharted waters. The Russian speakers don't pronounce the phrases with long pauses, so I had trouble understanding the onslaught of foreign phonemes in my ears. Nevertheless, I did like being able to see the text; this aided my comprehension of the sounds. Some "phonetic transcriptions" are provided for the Russian words with a mouse roll-over, but because the phonetic spellings did not use IPA, I found them confusing.

The English instruction is mixed in with a different Russian speaker pronouncing certain words. However, the English and Russian sound bytes aren't clipped together too well and there are annoying pauses in between different speakers in the middle of sentences.

Here is a visual example of one of these stitched together bi-lingual sentences:

I did like these interesting and helpful cultural notes.

I plan to continue to use the software and see what enhancements are added as the software progresses. Overall, I am very pleased with it: It functions well technically, the sound quality is good, it is self-paced and free! I encourage you to check it out. I'd like to hear your comments on the software.

tag(s): Russian Language

Font fetish

2007-06-25T18:22:00.000-05:00

After searching the web for some fun Cyrillic fonts, I decided to go with eternal fonts. This site has some interesting fonts including several Cyrillic fonts for $14.95 via paypal. Basically you pay the $15 and have access to all of their fonts. It was a quick and simple download to satisfy my font fetish. It says the download for the Mac is a .bin file, but I could only find .zip files. This still worked fine and I have several new Cyrillic fonts installed.
Initially I tried to install all of my new 5000+ fonts... what a bad idea! I think that I will stick with using only the few hundred that I like.

tag(s): Russian Cyrillic

Russian Yarn Card from taiga yarns

2007-06-18T07:24:00.000-05:00

tag(s): Russian

вязание

2007-06-11T19:51:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite things about learning another language is figuring out how words are connected. Today I have learning that the words knit and bind are connected. I guess these two words might be cousins on a big family tree of words.

In an attempt to read some of these Russian knitting magazines, I decided to bring out my dictionary, look up words, and make and attempt to remember how to spell them.

I am using the dictionary widget that came with my MacBook. It takes me a really long time to type Russian words because I do not have my Russian keyboard stickers on the MacBook keys, so I spend a lot of time trying to guess which key corresponds to which Russian letter. The MacBook is great to switch keyboard inputs with the click of the mouse, but then you have to know how to use the requested keyboard.

As I slowly typed in the word for knitting, the dictionary widget was translating as I was typing:

and the final Russian word:
I assume that the wording binding is the same as the word knitting. That would make sense. Here's the definition of knit from the Oxford American dictionary:

knit |nit|
verb ( knit•ting ; past and past part. knitted or (esp. in sense 2) knit )
1 [ trans. ] make (a garment, blanket, etc.) by interlocking loops of wool or other yarn with knitting needles or on a machine.
• make (a stitch or row of stitches) in such a way.
• knit with a knit stitch : knit one, purl one.
2 [ intrans. ] become united : disparate regions had begun to knit together under the king | [as adj., with submodifier ] ( knit) a closely knit family.
• (of parts of a broken bone) become joined during healing.
• [ trans. ] cause to unite or combine : he knitted together a squad of players other clubs had disregarded.

ORIGIN
Old English cnyttan; related to German dialect knütten, also to knot 1 .
The original sense was [tie in or with a knot,] hence [join, unite] ( sense 2 ); an obsolete Middle English sense [knot string to make a net] gave rise to sense 1.

Now all I have to do is figure out how to pronounce the Russian word and I will be set!

tag(s): Russian Language

Russian knitting magazines

2007-06-04T07:43:00.000-05:00

I also ordered some Russian knitting magazines. I was thinking that maybe I could learn some new vocabulary while getting to feed my knitting obsession. My Belarussian friend Наташа told me that it would be a bad idea to try to learn some Russian from these magazines, but I did not heed her advice and ordered two magazines.
When they arrived, I realized that the Russian version of Joe Millionaire's Zora was on the cover of one, and Ally McBeal was on the cover of the other.
You may be wondering what Russian Zora is wearing. It looks like a furry-collared coat. At closer inspection,

you will see that it is a knitted halter top, knitted long skirt, with a furry-collared sweater.

Other notable knitting patterns in these magazines:

Clown costumes for children

Long-sleeved sweater with noticeable missing fabric on upper arms

Retro '80s pullover. This pattern is not too extraordinary, but the model looks like the Russian women I see in Hollywood movies.

tag(s): Russian Language

Spoonful of Russian

2007-06-03T16:43:00.000-05:00

Today I've been listening to Natalia's Spoonful of Russian podcasts. Natalia has a nice voice for podcasting and her relaxed, confident tone makes it seem like Russian is easy to learn. These lessons are easy to listen to while I am knitting and doing housework. As I listen to her podcasts, I realize that I remember more Russian than I had expected. Yay!
Maybe I will find a microphone and actually do some of the homework lessons she assigns (record yourself speaking the dialogues) and post them here. I am not sure that I want to hear my own voice recorded and posted on the web, but we'll have to see.

tag(s): Russian Language

Remember me?

2007-06-02T00:27:00.000-05:00

OK, so I got a bit disenchanted with both my Russian lessons and with my computer, so I took a long hiatus from both.

I am ready to start back. I have a new MacBook and a renewed interest in my Russian lessons. I plan to review my old Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone lessons and move forward.
During this second phase of the learning process, I plan to focus on writing more. I need to learn to spell and how to properly write Russian with a pen and paper. Before, I wanted to gain some conversational fluency so I wasn't very concerned about minor details like spelling and reading.

tag(s): Pimsleur Rosetta Stone Russian Language

Unity Day

2006-11-01T11:43:00.000-06:00

My Google Calendar tells me that Saturday is a Russian holiday called Unity Day.
What on earth is that? After searching the trusty Johnson's Russia List, I discovered that it is a new holiday, started in 2005, to unite the country.
Here's the article by Francesca Mereu: Unity Holiday Creating Discord
I wonder if this holiday was actually successful last year and if it is predicted to be successful this year.

tag(s): Russian

Reminded by Manpower

2006-10-10T06:39:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Manpower's comment, I did go and watch Aladdin's A Whole New World clip dubbed in Russian on YouTube and it reminded me that I should be looking for Russian music, radio, magazines and other pop-culture bits to keep me interested in doing my lessons.

Thanks Manpower!

tag(s): Russian Language

Reviewing Previous Pimsleur

2006-06-22T19:37:00.000-05:00

I came to the realization that I was not ever going to bring out my cassette player to do my Pimsleur lessons on cassette. So I had to break down and buy the CD version.
I've been reviewing the lessons in the car on the way to and from work. Although I am braindead in the mornings, it is easier for me to do the lessons on the way to the office in the morning. In the afternoons, I can't turn my brain off for long enough to really concentrate on the lessons.

tag(s): Pimsleur Russian Language

New strategy for using Rosetta Stone

2006-06-15T20:50:00.000-05:00

Today I picked up my Rosetta Stone lessons for the first time in a very long time. I hope to review all of my previous lessons for the next month or so and then begin new material.

Each Rosetta Stone lesson is composed of 10 screens. Each screens contains vocabulary and syntax information for the learner to acquire.

In reviewing some lessons today, I noticed an interesting trend in my memory of the vocabulary and syntax: I have no problem remembering the information presented in the first 4 or 5 screens of the lesson. The last half of the screens contain information that I have a fuzzy memory of (if I am lucky).

To me this means that the lessons contain too much information for my poor, little brain to process in one go. In moving forward, I think that I will plan to work on half a lesson at one time.

tag(s): Rosetta Stone Russian Language

In response to ondrej's comment from January

2006-06-13T18:48:00.000-05:00

In January, ondrej asked me about the differences between Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone.

Sorry for taking so long to reply.

I can understand why it is difficult to find a comparison between the Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone methods. Each method has a very different goal in mind, so it would be impossible to say that one is better than another unless you evaluate them with a specific target outcome in mind.

The Pimsleur method focuses on listening and speaking. There are no illustrations or pictures for the lessons and very little text is available. You are not encouraged to use any text at all because the lessons are about listening comprehension and correct pronunciation.

The Rosetta Stone focuses more on reading, writing, and listening comprehension. There are photos to accompany the words and phrases that you are learning; you must use the pictures to determine what the text is communicating because only Russian is used when learning Russian. There is no English to guide you through the lessons. This takes some analytical skills and sometimes a lot of thinking. However, you are not learning how to communicate in a conversational manner (as you do with the Pimsleur method). I have learned a lot of syntax and vocabulary from Rosetta Stone, but I could not use it to communicate with a taxi driver, for example.

tag(s): Pimsleur Rosetta Stone Russian

Back to reviewing Pimsleur lessons and beyond

2006-06-12T14:26:00.000-05:00

Although I have not posted any new content to this site in over six month, I am still getting hits, comments, and emails. I think it means that it is time for me to begin posting again.
As I told you earlier, I did deviate into some Greek lessons. I found that they were much easier than Russian, but I was much less enthusiastic about learning Greek. There is a local Greek restaurant near my office that I visit about once a week. After I discovered that the owner was actually Iranian, I had even less motivation to keep up with my Greek lessons.

So I am back to Russian... and a little Italian on the side.

I figure that I need to start the Pimsleur lessons again, from scratch, as a review. I only have the level 1 lessons on cassette... my only cassette player is in my bedroom, so I end up being "confined" to the bedroom to do these lessons instead of listening to them on my iPod as I go about my daily business. Oh well, if I can make it through the 30 days of lessons, then I can move on to my level 2 CDs.

Also, I will clean up my side frames on this blog and perhaps revise my template if I am feeling creative. Any suggestions?

tag(s): Pimsleur Rosetta Stone Russian

It's all Greek to me

2005-11-17T22:49:00.000-06:00

Because I was having some trouble getting motivated to do my Russian lessons, I decided to do a few Greek lessons from Pimsleur. I figured that it would be a nice break, then I could get back to the serious business of learning Russian.
I have done the Modern Greek lessons for about 2 weeks now. So on Monday evening, I decided to go have a look at a Greek phrasebook to see if I could read it.
What I discovered, when I started looking through the Greek phrase book, was that I was totally illiterate in Greek. And that realization has given me the new insight that I am no longer totally illiterate in Russian. The Russian phrasebook is definitely less intimidating and lots more familiar than the Greek one.

So I have made some progress in Russian, even though it doesn't usually feel like it!

tag(s): Pimsleur

Librarything

2005-10-15T14:15:00.000-05:00

I noticed today on Librarything.org that LibraryHat has noted the book that he used to learn Russian... and I owe this same book! I had found it a bit old-fashioned, but I will take another look at it since it comes with LanguageHat's "recommendation."

tag(s): Russian

Dead Souls

2005-10-12T21:55:00.000-05:00

Ian at Steppe by Steppe has posted today, so I thought that I would say a few words as well.

I still haven't found the secret to motivation, although I have decided that I will just have to MAKE myself do it.

I have bought a used paperback: Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol. I am hoping that a little (translated) Russian lit will get me in the mood for MAKING myself do my Golosa lessons.

tag(s): Russian

Hints or tricks?

2005-09-22T22:34:00.000-05:00

Does anyone have any tips on getting motivated for doing these lessons?

Sheesh.

tag(s): motivation L2 acquisition

Golosa, Chapter1

2005-09-01T00:24:00.000-05:00

I bought the Russian textbook, workbook and audio CDs from my local university bookstore a month ago. Tonight I finally got around to using them for the first time. I worked on the first chapter.
I have discovered that all of the audio parts are available on the web! So I can return the CDs and get my $36.85 back. The audio lesson for chapter one basically reads the lesson out loud to you. Then I followed the audio parts of the workbook activities. Lastly, I listened to the reading (and listening) exercise. This was an interesting reading in a mixture of English and Russian. It is very strange sounding, you might want to check it out here.
This first lesson was very easy for me, but I enjoyed listening to these new speakers. I had become accustomed to my same old Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone speakers, so these new folks are a nice change.

tag(s): Russian

"Cyrillic flash cards"

2005-08-31T23:11:00.000-05:00

I found a site with a free database for creating your own Russian-French or Russian-English flash cards. You have to have a database software like Microsoft Access to use the file.

tag(s): Russian

Boy, I'm slow

2005-08-31T20:30:00.000-05:00

I realized the other day that I had a bunch of unposted comments! For some reason your comments were being moderated and I had no idea. I hope I've fixed that problem now.

I guess I took a 2-month break from my Russian lessons. I had no motivation during August for book work. Now that the weather is a little less humid and cruel, I am feeling more energetic and ready to hit the books.

tag(s): Pimsleur Rosetta Stone Russian

Postcards from Minsk: The symbolic city gates in the railway station square

2005-08-31T19:58:00.000-05:00

Сiмвалiчныя вароты горада на Прывакзальнай плошчы

There's a clock tower on the left; the coat of arms is on the right.

tag(s): Minsk

It's that time of the year...

2005-08-05T20:15:00.000-05:00

It's hot. Really hot and muggy out. And you know what that means:
It's time to buy school supplies.

I am no longer a student, but the really hot and muggy weather makes me yearn to visit Office Depot and buy a 5-subject notebook and some new pens.

So today I decided that I should sign up for the Russian 101 class at my local university. I briefly doubted my decision because then I would no longer be self-acquiring this language, but...

IT'S HOT AND MUGGY OUTSIDE. I MUST ATTEND SCHOOL.

I went to the University bookstore first and checked out the textbooks for the class. It's a text called Голоса that is a (used) hardback, a workbook, and some CDs. Cool.

Next I went to look at the Fall class schedule. They have a class offered on Mon/Wed from 11:30 - 12:30. Really cool! I can go during my lunch break.

Lastly, I went to the money office to find out how much undergraduate tuition costs.
EIGHT HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-FOUR US DOLLARS to register for Russian 101.

OK, I'll stick to self-acquired.

I bought the textbooks anyway. I can use them on my own!

tag(s): Russian

Frequency word lists, are they helpful?

2005-08-04T22:18:00.000-05:00

I spied a book on Amazon today, Russian Learner's Dictionary: 10,000 Words in Frequency Order. In fact, Amazon is recommending it to me (surprise!). And it does, indeed, look like a great book for me.

Do frequency word lists really help beginning learners? I definitely need some help on acquiring new Russian vocabulary, but I have been working under the assumption that it is best to learn vocabulary in context.

From John Dingley in the Canadian Modern Language Review:

There is much in RLD which is to be applauded and which, I am certain, will ensure that the work is widely used. This is not just a list of words. It contains much useful and necessary grammatical information, such as noun stress patterns. There is good cross-referencing, especially with respect to verbal aspectual pairs. The English glosses are succinct but adequate. Contextual examples are given for the first 600 words, which is helpful; I would have liked to see this exemplification for all entries. At the end of the book (pp. 309-429) there is an index giving the words in alphabetical order, which, again, is a most useful feature of the book.

Perhaps frequency word lists are helpful when learning a language with the assistance of a teacher. Would a vocabulary list be helpful to me as I learn on my own?

Recently my lack of vocabulary was made very evident to me. A colleague, who had learned of my Russian hobby, came by my office to ask me to translate an airplane flight manual that he had acquired (along with the airplane). I, of course, knew NONE of the words in the manual except "Section 1." My colleague seemed disappointed in my lack of Russian language abilities. He even seemed downright downtrodden. I spent some time looking up words in the dictionary in order to decipher the text, but this was not what he had intended by asking for my assistance.

Help!

tag(s): Russian

Funny English

2005-08-03T22:25:00.000-05:00

Lynnora gives some funny English sentences from Belarussians who speak English as a second language. I'm certainly not laughing at the speakers... I know EXACTLY what it feels like to say something totally ridiculous in a foreign language because I have no alternative way to express my thoughts.
I particularly enjoyed Lynnora's second sentence.

tag(s): Belarussian

Postcards from Minsk: The Roman Catholic Cathedral of Sts. Simon and Helen (The Red Church)

2005-08-03T22:15:00.000-05:00

Касцёл Св. Сiмяона i Алены

It was built in the early 20th century under the sponsorship of the Vainilovich family who wanted to immortalize their children Simon and Helen who died unexpectedly of an unknown disease. At one point, the Cathedral was set for demolition, but it was saved by being renovated into a movie theater. Today it has been given back to the Roman Catholic Church; masses are said in Belarussian.

tag(s): Minsk

Happy July!

2005-07-02T08:37:00.000-05:00

I'm going on holiday. See you in August!

Postcards from Minsk: Ploscha Peramogi (Victory roundabout)

2005-06-30T19:41:00.000-05:00

Плошча Перамогi

This monument commemerates the Belarussians who gave their lives in WWII. There's also an eternal flame here.

That's bunk!

2005-06-29T23:07:00.000-05:00

One of my blogging colleagues directed me to a news story about the fact that President Putin had taken the New England Patriots owner's SuperBowl ring, put it in his pocket, and never gave it back.

As I check the story again this evening, MSNBC has "corrected" it to state that the football team owner decided to give Putin the ring after Putin has admired it. Oh really?

tag(s): Russian

Dave's Gallery: Belarus

2005-06-29T22:01:00.000-05:00

David Goodwin has a nice photo album of his trip to Belarus.

tag(s): Belarus Russian

Perhaps I'm not worthy of being a true Language Learner

2005-06-27T19:33:00.000-05:00

For several days since reading blogchik's post, I have been wondering if I am a bad language learner. Or a bad Russian language learner, more specifically.

Last October, when I had a close encounter with a native Russian speaker, we came across this sound
.

I had been pronouncing it as a "short" American English i, knowing full well that it was an incorrect pronunciation, but not knowing how to fix it. The native Russian speaker corrected me, pronounced several example words containing the sound, and tried to describe its place of articulation TO NO AVAIL. I never could get it right, so we moved on. AND THAT WAS OKAY TO ME. Honestly, I may never have to use this language, so I just want a basic understanding. If I don't master this particularly Russian sound, it is alright with me... or so I thought, until I came across this note from blogchik. She takes pride in being able to pronounce it correctly, it sounds as if she has worked for ages to master the sound. It gives me the impression of being a sort of coming of age for Russian learners. Is it like mastering the French /ʀ/? (Only to discover that they don't pronounce a uvular R in Provence anyway?)

At this point, I will not be able to master the ы because I don't have regular access to native speakers. However, I cannot stop wondering if perhaps I should give more consideration to my strong American accent.

tag(s): Russian

Another Russian-learning blogger

2005-06-27T00:05:00.000-05:00

She's just getting started, so be sure to stop by her blog and give her some support!

Still muddling through the Russian alphabet. If I don't get a handle on it, I'll never get into the fun part: grammar.

Grammar? What's that?

tag(s): Russian

My first Russian movie

2005-06-26T22:16:00.000-05:00

I finally made it to the public library on Saturday to borrow some International films. I found Solaris on DVD, as recommended by skarr (on my 31 May comments). The library also had The Thief and Stalker, but these two are on VHS, so I borrowed only the DVD film.

I watched this very long movie this afternoon. The weather was hot and muggy, so it was a good day to lay around and watch movies.

I would estimate that less than half of the movie has dialog. The rest of the time is filled with cinematic scenes. After about 30 minutes, I realized that I could switch to the English commentary during the dialog-less scenes. This was a great help to me because I needed help trying to figure out what I was supposed to be understanding from the film. Even if the film had been in English, it would have been over my head. Nevertheless, this was not an exerise in cinema appreciation for me; it was an exercise in listening to real Russian language.

I think that I understood about every 30th word. Each time that I heard something I recognized, was QUITE excited. It has been a surprise to me that I can pick out individual words so easily. While I was learning French, it was terribly difficult to differentiate individual words because I was not accustomed to a vowel dominant language. Russian, as far as my beginner's ear can tell, is a consonant dominant language. I think for this reason, I was able to pick out one or two familiar words from an entire dialog.

I will note this exercise as a mild success.

tag(s): Russian

Postcards from Minsk: The Cathedral of the Holy Spirit

2005-06-25T17:35:00.000-05:00

Святадухаўскi Кафедральны Сабор

tag(s): Minsk Russian

Blog survey! Be a participant

2005-06-23T18:12:00.000-05:00

Suspended from eBay he is!

2005-06-20T20:54:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I received an email from the Canadian guy from whom I accidentally bought the previous-edition Pimsleur mp3 files.
In his email he asked if I was happy with my purchase. Also, he informed me that he was now suspended from eBay, but then he tried to sell me Rosetta Stone levels 1 & 2 for $50.

Since he had asked, I replied that I was not happy with the purchase because it was the previous edition of Pimsleur. I also informed him that I already own Rosetta Stone that I have bought from a very reputable online store, TwinSuns Online.

He hasn't responded to my email.

tag(s): Pimsleur Russian

Pimsleur guilt (again??)

2005-06-17T09:06:00.000-05:00

So I bought these used Pimsleur CDs from a guy in Canada via eBay. He was pretty quick about shipping, but when the envelope arrived, it was way too light for a bunch of CDs.

Well, it turns out that they're not exactly "used" but more like "pirated." It's a bunch of mp3 files, not uniformly named (!!), shoved on 3 disks named: My_Disk, My_Disk, and My_Disk.

Now I feel very guilty. This self-instructed foreign language acquisition is nothing if not guilt-bearing distress and shame.

What could I do but take a listen to my next lesson, Unit 19 of Level 1?

SURPRISE!! IT IS A PREVIOUS EDITION OF RUSSIAN PIMSLEUR WITH SPEAKERS WHO SPEAK TOO FAST AND SLUR THEIR CONSONANTS.

So, I wasted a bunch of money, gave it to a pirater, and I am still stuck listening to the cassette version from my public library. Foiled again!

tag(s): Pimsleur Russian

UniLang Wiki

2005-06-16T21:41:00.000-05:00

I just discovered this wiki with lots of cool bits and pieces of beginning Russian. It looks like a very well established site with lots of information.

tag(s): Russian

Not knowing is such bliss

2005-06-16T21:13:00.000-05:00

I was startled when reading this sentence on blogchik:

At me there is not of the money.

because I realized that it is a sentence I have learned from Pimsleur.
У меня нет денег.

The reason that this English sentence caught my eye is that I didn't immediately recognize it by its "exact grammatical" translation from Russian, as blogchik provided. In fact, I don't know the grammar of the Russian sentence at all. The only thing I know is that
I don't have any money = У меня нет денег.

Thanks to Pimsleur I don't have to keep up with genitive, dative, blah blah blah.
Yet.

tag(s): Pimsleur

More news on Belarus

2005-06-15T19:53:00.000-05:00

Straight from the mouths of blokes:

Belarus, has just introduced a new bill which it would seem is going to be accepted

And that reminds me, we need another Postcard from Minsk on the blog.

tag(s): Belarus

I have been taking a summer vacation

2005-06-14T22:53:00.000-05:00

I have been taking a vacation from my Russian lessons. I know, I know, 30 minutes a day, blah, blah.
I intend to load my new Pimsleur lessons on my computer tomorrow so that I can start my lessons again....

Various ramblings

2005-06-08T19:01:00.000-05:00

Last night I was on the phone with my Minsky friend when I had to admit that I haven't worked on my Russian lessons in quite a while.
I did, however, receive my Pimsleur level 3 lessons in the mail yesterday. I had to pay a Canadian guy a fair amount of USD to obtain these bootleg copies. I'm not happy about it. I was trying to decide whether or not to send them back and ask for a refund.
As you may know, I got the levels 1 and 2 from the library. The nice lady at the library told me that they didn't have level 3 and they wouldn't be getting it because it is so expensive.

Movie recommendations?

2005-05-31T22:49:00.000-05:00

Does anyone have any recommendations for Russian movies? I'd like to watch a Russian movie that I may be able to understand a little bit of the dialog. Plus, if it's not too terribly boring, that would be an extra bonus.

tag(s): Russian

The inevitable has occurred

2005-05-25T22:55:00.000-05:00

My Rosetta Stone software has gotten a scratch on the CD! You can't use the software without having the CD in the CD-ROM drive, so this is a problem. When I initially started using this software, I realized that I could scratch the CD and then be totally out of business. Therefore, I made a backup CD. Thank goodness!
So I pulled out my trusty backup CD this evening. I was back on track with lesson 1-5-6 when suddenly the audio and video started acting up. The audio kept repeating "vent" for each photo. The photos were solid blue squares.
I took a look at the next lesson and it seems to be fine. Maybe there is a little problem with lesson 1-5-6, but the rest will be OK.

But, about the content of this lesson... it was all about fire, burning things and hot weather. It was a very strange collection of sentences. Perhaps my computer didn't like it, so it sabotaged my lesson.

tag(s): Rosetta Stone Russian

Taxi driver, please take me to Red Square

2005-05-24T21:28:00.000-05:00

Evidently, I don't really need to yearn for knowing how to say,"Taxi driver, please take me to Red Square," because monkeymittens says that's where you'll get robbed by hookers. Perhaps I should stick to inviting my colleagues to my hotel room for wine.

tag(s): Russian

Pimsleur is PG-13

2005-05-23T20:57:00.000-05:00

In the last Pimsleur lesson, I learned how to wine and dine my colleague's spouse. In this lesson I have learned how to invite my colleague into MY HOTEL ROOM. Is it normal in Russia to invite your colleague to your hotel room? If so, I do not really want to go there.

Here is a typical Pimsleur conversation these days:
===============================
Pimsleur: Hello. Would you like to eat at a restaurant?
Me: No, thank you. I would like something to drink.
Pimsleur: Would you like some beer?
Me: No, thank you, but I would like some wine.
Pimsleur: Very well. Where is your husband?
Me: He is not here.
Pimsleur: What time would you like to go to the restaurant?
Me: I would not like to go to the restaurant.
Pimsleur: Are you going to the Hotel Intourist?
Me: Certainly.
Pimsleur: I would like to go to the Hotel Intourist on Tverskaya Street.
(scene change)

A knock at the door is heard.

Me: Please come in.
Pimsleur: Where is your husband?
Me: My husband is not here. Where is your wife?
Pimsleur: My wife is not here. Would you like some wine?
==========================
What is up with that? We haven't learned how to say, "Taxi driver, please take me to Red Square," but we have learned how to hit on people at the Intourist hotel. GRRRRRRREAT.

tag(s): Pimsleur Russian

Vocabulary building

2005-05-18T21:21:00.000-05:00

Today's Rosetta Stone lesson, 1-5-5, was a vocabulary building lesson. I learned lots of new verbs today:
гуляет
играет
чинит
толкает
несёт
поднимается по ступенькам
везёт
даёт
берёт
Also, there were a few new nouns:
стакан
тележку
коробки
лекарство
my favourite new noun of the day:
пони
and a noun that is new to Rosetta Stone, but I already learned in Pimsleur:
деньги
two verbs for review:
держит
пьёт

It was a good lesson, despite my attention deficit. I am working through my current slump and I can sense that I am on the cusp of feeling truly motivated again.

tag(s): Rosetta Stone Russian

Lessons on cassette

2005-05-16T22:16:00.000-05:00

Despite my recent, small achievement, I have not been doing my Pimsleur lesson. Why? Because the remainder of the lessons for Level 1 are on cassette. I do not have easy access to a cassette player. I have "12 days" worth of cassette lessons before I can return to the luxury of CD lessons, but I can't get into the cassette groove.

tag(s): Pimsleur Russian

I did it!! I DID IT!!

2005-05-11T02:04:00.000-05:00

After my business dinner this evening, the driver picked up me and my colleague to take us back to the hotel.
While we were riding back, talking about our "action items," I heard the driver speaking on his cellphone. His words sounded Russian, although I couldn't understand them. Then, I heard him say the word, "слушаете ." I know this word from my Pimsleur lessons! It was the only word that I understood, but it was enough to alert me to the fact that
THIS MAN IS A NATIVE RUSSIAN SPEAKER.

I have found one: a native speaker! The holy grail!

So, thank goodness, I had had a little bit to drink. Therefore, I had the courage to say,"Вы говорите по-русски?" I can't tell you how nervous I was. I sat there, hoping that, oh god, don't let me have just insulted this man... what if I incorrectly heard Russian coming from his mouth? What if it was Belarussian or something?

He turned around and looked at me... and smiled. He responded something like, yes I do.

We had reached the end of our destination at that point. He told me the fare was $30, so I clumsily took $40 out of my handbag and gave it to him, saying "Сорок долоров." He gave me a receipt and returned $5 to me. I told him no, but he pushed the $5 bill at me and asked me to keep it. I didn't know what to do, so I just took it back. Honestly, it is late and I feel a bit guilty that he had to pick us up so late.

Then he asked me, in English, if I spoke Russian. So I said, "немного" just as Pimsleur taught me. He smiled again.

I am so excited! I got to speak Russian in a real live situation and the other person understood me, at least a little! It's my first time! He was so much more friendly and forgiving than I had expected. I feel like I have made a big accomplishment; albeit a small conversation, I have officially spoken my Pimsleur phrases and been understood.

We'll need a driver again on Thursday to get to the airport. It will be early in the morning on Thursday, so I will have to start drinking quite early in order to have the courage to try another Russian conversation.

tag(s): Russian

Seattle

2005-05-08T23:52:00.000-05:00

Hello, my dear 300,000 regular readers. My postings will be sparse this week because I am in Seattle on business.
I arrived this evening and had previously arranged for Town Car Service (it's what people seem to do in Seattle instead of taxis). I had requested to have my "regular" driver, the Eastern European gentleman who usually drives me around when I am in Seattle; I call him Vladimir. I have been learning all sorts of taxi vocabulary so that I could talk to him in Russian, in case that he speaks Russian. He sounds like he has a Russian accent when he is speaking English, but of course, it could be Ukrainian or any number of other Eastern European language.... I was hoping that he spoke Russian so that I could practice my Russian with a real person for the first time. I haven't had the courage to use my Russian skills before and I have been building up to this, my Town Car driver conversation.

It turns out that he wasn't driving tonight. DOH! It was some guy from a Middle Eastern country. Oh well.

I need a driver tomorrow evening, so maybe Vladimir will pick me up then....

tag(s): Russian

Postcards from Minsk: View of the city and of the Traetskaye Pradmescie

2005-05-08T21:50:00.000-05:00

Від на горад і Траецкае прадмесце

tag(s): Minsk

My new favorite Russian word...

2005-05-03T20:00:00.000-05:00

конечно
I like the way it rolls off my tongue.

Funny discovery

2005-05-03T19:44:00.000-05:00

In my Pimsleur lesson today, I learned that the Russian word for husband sounds like the French word for housefly. I like it!

tag(s): Pimsleur Learning Russian

Trends in Pimsleur

2005-05-02T22:01:00.000-05:00

I am trying to decide whether or not I am seeing a trend with my Pimsleur lessons. It seems like the lessons get progressively harder until I reach a lesson that I have to repeat several times because it is so difficult. Then, the next lesson is really simple. Initially I thought that maybe I was having good days and bad days, but now I am not so sure because it seems to be a trend.

Today's lesson was very simple. I think that I learned 3 new vocabulary words. It seemed like most of the lesson was a review. But yesterday's lesson had a lot of new vocabulary and much less review.

I think it's a trend. Regardless of what it is, this Pimsleur method really works.

tag(s): Pimsleur Russian

Postcards from Minsk: Office of the "President" of the Republic of Belarus

2005-04-29T19:41:00.000-05:00

Рээідэнцыя Прээідэнта Рэспублікі Беларусь

tag(s): Minsk

Russian for Everybody

2005-04-29T07:54:00.001-05:00

Looks like some good basic information on basic Russian grammar and phonetics.
It's free and doesn't require registration.
Russian for Everybody

tags: learning russian

In French we say « il pleut des cordes »

2005-04-28T21:06:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting outside on our cozy balcony, full of flowers, and it is raining cats and dogs. I wonder how you say this idiomatic expression in Russian.

tag(s): Russian

Grammatushka

2005-04-28T20:42:00.000-05:00

I tried out the Grammatushka tutorial for learning the Russian alphabet.

In my humble opinion, it's wretched.

If you are learning the Russian alphabet, using a working knowledge of English as a base, then why are they asking you trivia questions in Russian? If you don't know the alphabet, then you can't read the Russian questions!

Example:

It is as if they are saying, "Here is the letter г. Now that you see and hear this letter, you should be able to read and comprehend Russian."

Other secondary reasons why I didn't like the Alphabet unit of Grammatushka:
The "Next" button is poorly placed (requiring you to scroll down on each page- you can't even see it in the screen shot above).
There are pop-ups when you answer the trivia questions.
Also, I can't get it to work in FireFox.

Two thumbs down on this lesson.

I will go ahead and try some of the other Grammatushka units to see if they are better for me.

tag(s): Learning Russian

Guilt, once again

2005-04-28T20:15:00.000-05:00

Anyse has successfully guilted me into posting. Actually, I'm glad it happened because I have been thinking about russkiblog for over a week, but I can't think of anything to post. So Anyse's comment has sturred me to try harder of thinking of something to post.

About Anyse's comment... I was surprised to find that someone noticed my lack of posting and even more surprised that someone took the time to comment on it. I didn't realise that anyone was regularly reading, so this was quite a shock!

Another blogging topic, not quite related to learning Russian: is it just me or are there significantly more men than women in this blogging-about-learning-Russian-language-and-culture area? It is sometimes hard to tell whether writers (and readers) are men or women, but I feel a little out-numbered on occassion. I'm not complaining, mind you, just curious....

tag(s): Learning Russian

Disappointing news

2005-04-18T21:23:00.000-05:00

I called my Belarussian friend in Boston this past weekend. As you may know, she is supposed to come and visit me in May. I visited her for the first time this past October and I have been waiting for her trip down south to visit me.

(We have been corresponding since 1989, so our first real-life visit in October was exciting and a big success.)

When I called her this past weekend, she was on the bus to NYC because it's a three-day weekend for her. (I'm not sure why.) She told me her great news - she got an internship at a prestigious place for the summer (a place that ALL OF US have heard of). The bad news is that she won't be able to visit me.

I am happy that she has gotten such a great internship. She is very modest about it; she says that maybe no one else applied (yea, right). But I had been so looking forward to showing her my home, my family, all the things that I have been writing her about.

She says that maybe she will be able to come at Thanksgiving. I hope so. Until then, I will keep practicing my Russian lessons so that I can surprise her when she finally arrives with my new-found language skills.

Roots, roots, roots!

2005-04-13T12:06:00.000-05:00

Last night and today during lunch, I have been devoring this book, Roots of the Russian Language: An Elementary Guide to Wordbuilding. It is a great resource. It reminds me of my elementary school class in Latin roots, but now I find the topic of roots much more interesting than I did when I was 11.

Today Ian posted his trials and tribulations with learning Russian vocabulary. I am experiencing some of the same vocabulary-deciphering issues... (does flying saucer mean UFO or Frisbee?), so I hope that this book will help me.

Here is an example of its content from page 72:

I think that I will begin making flashcards of these roots to help me along. We all know how my dedication to flash cards is extremely limited, but it seems worth a try.

tag(s): Russian

My newest book has arrived

2005-04-12T21:05:00.000-05:00

Today in the mail I received Roots of the RUSSIAN Language. I am hoping that I can memorize the meanings of these roots and then be able to read more advanced texts.

tag(s): Russian

RS 1-5-3 времена глагола

2005-04-12T17:12:00.000-05:00

In today's Rosetta Stone lesson, I have made an unidentified flying discovery.

Today's lesson is verb tenses! I have been looking forward to this lesson for several reasons.

Reason 1: I couldn't imagine how they would teach all those verb tenses by just using photos.
Reason 2: All I recognize is present tense. Well, I have learned the "I am going to eat" type construction (can't remember what this is called) but it doesn't count as a different tense.
Reason 3: I bought the Big Silver Book of Russian Verbs a while back and I really want to use it.

I clearly understand the subject and verbs of these sentences. The last part of the predicate летающую тарелку I don't know, but it has to be talking about the frisbee. I know the word тарелка is plate. It looks similar to the second word there. I know the word летит means "flies" and it has a similar beginning as the first word of the unknown phrase, so maybe it literally means "flying plate." I can see that frisbee = flying plate. Anyway Frisbee is a registered trademark, so in English we are probably SUPPOSED to call it a Frisbee brand flying disc or something.

So I looked up these two unknown Russian words in freetranslation.com.

If you don't know what this phrase means, go ahead and try this yourself.... copy this phrase

летающую тарелку

and paste it into freetranslation to get a gisted English translation.

Did you see that translation?

OK, so maybe I'm right that it literally means flying plate, but I'm not so sure that it means Frisbee brand flying disc.

tag(s): Rosetta Stone Russian

Language Learning and Multi-tasking

2005-04-11T23:09:00.000-05:00

My sister emailed me today to ask for my advice on choosing a language learning audio class. Of course, I suggested Pimsleur. Of the three brands I have tried, Pimsleur has worked the best for me. I also told her not to try to multi-task while doing her 30 minutes of Pimsleur a day because it won't work very well. It's difficult to concentrate on a new language while cooking, cleaning, folding laundry, ironing, shaving you legs... well, you get the picture. Then she informed me that she was thinking of learning another language during her drive to and from work in order to pass the time more effectively. THEN she asks me who has an extra 30 minutes a day?

She is my sister and I love her dearly, but if she doesn't have 30 minutes of free time in her day, then I am worried about her health and well-being. This brings me to my regular rant about Americans not relaxing enough, working too hard, and not taking enough holidays, but I digress.

Maybe she meant that she doesn't have 30 minutes to devote to giving herself the gift of foreign language. I can understand this. Some people would prefer to spend their 30 extra minutes on woodcarving or sewing or baking or gardening or biking.

The fact that she considers her drive to and from work to be wasted unless she is multi-tasking is a bit worrying. Shouldn't she be concentrating on driving?

Anyway, I told her to get the Pimsleur CDs from her local public library and let me know how it goes. She said that she would try to do it on the drive and if that didn't work, then she would see if she could fit the 30 minutes into her day.
I suggested that we do an experiment. She should do the Pimsleur while driving and I would do the Pimsleur at home with peace and quiet. Then at the end of the first level, we would test to see who had made the most progress. She said it wouldn't be fair because I have already studied the language she wants to learn (that's true, but it was a long time ago) and I have more foreign language studying success.

So I wonder if there are any studies out there that would provide these results.

And one last thing. I doubt that you can learn a language effectively in only 30 minutes a day. You'll eventually need some sort of immersion in order to progress towards fluency. But 30 minutes of Pimsleur is a good start, especially if you want to do it while driving.

tag(s): Pimsleur Learning Language

Plateau sigh

2005-04-11T21:05:00.000-05:00

I think I've officially hit a plateau. I've had to repeat the same Pimsleur lesson 3 times and I'm not been motivated to study my grammar lessons or get on with my Rosetta Stone. What's wrong with me, I wonder?

I will do my best to do another Rosetta Stone lesson tonight before bed.

My Belarussian friend will be here next month and I have hardly made any progress in several weeks.

tag(s): Pimsleur Rosetta Stone Russian

My inner European

2005-04-09T21:28:00.000-05:00

I took that silly quiz on blogthings that tells you your inner European. I came up as French, not Russian. So I took it again, and I came up as French a second time. So I took it a third time and answered the questions totally dishonestly. That third time I was diagnosed as Swedish. No Russian for me. Bof, c'est la vie.

Blogger

2005-04-08T05:04:00.000-05:00

What on Earth is wrong with Blogger? I wish I knew some appropriate swear words in Russian.

Another postcard from Minsk: Вiд на вулiцу Камунiстычную

2005-04-05T22:59:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted for several days because I'm in a funk. I haven't studied my Russian lessons since Friday (gasp!). The Daylight Savings time change has really messed me up for some reason (perhaps I'm also feeling the effects of my HORRENDOUS seasonal allergies symptoms), so I am taking it easy on myself. Perhaps tomorrow I will have the energy to continue on my Russian language journey!

what a coincidence!

2005-03-31T20:27:00.000-06:00

Yesterday my Pimsleur lesson and my Rosetta Stone lesson overlapped! They both did some basic arithmetic in Russian. How very weird.

Today I progressed into Unit 5 of Rosetta Stone. It looks like there will be less concentration on acquiring new vocabulary and more concentration on grammar. That's good since I haven't been doing my grammar book lessons as I had planned to.

tag(s): Pimsleur Rosetta Stone Russian

Changes in my learning

2005-03-28T22:51:00.000-06:00

Today, while doing my Rosetta Stone lesson, I noticed a change in the type of information I am learning. Instead of learning just plain ole vocabulary segments, I have started learning some grammatical information. Today I learned the the noun ending is different depending on whether it comes after "with" or "without." I am on Unit 4 lesson 9 of the first level of Rosetta Stone (approximately). It is so interesting to start recognizing grammatical shifts rather than simply trying to learn new word "roots."

I also pulled out my First Reader in Russian book. I really like it! Last time I looked at it, it was too complicated for me. Today I can actually understand some of it. I actually like it. It is cute and funny in a childish way. But it is nice to read some Russian that is not about political conflicts, revolutions and terrorism.

I need to do my grammar lesson and my Pimsleur, but I am too interested in Letterman and Queen Latifah....

tag(s): Rosetta Stone Russian

humor on cyrillic alphabet

2005-03-28T22:33:00.000-06:00

Here's a funny post about the Cyrillic alphabet by an English speaker.

tag(s): Learning Russian

Rosetta Stone customer service part 3

2005-03-26T12:21:00.000-06:00

Today at 12:03 in the afternoon, there was a brief knock at my front door. When I answered, I found a padded manilla envelope with my name on it. A Saturday delivery from UPS!

It was the new Rosetta Stone application. I uninstalled my last version and installed this new one right away. It was quick and painless. The first thing that I noticed when using the upgraded application is that the Tutorial button now says Guided Exercises.

I have opened the app and will leave it open this afternoon so that I can see if the Windows-goes-to-sleep-while-Rosetta-is-running bug has been fixed.

tag(s): Rosetta Stone

Update on Pimsleur

2005-03-24T21:43:00.000-06:00

I am still working on the Level 1 Comprehensive of Pimsleur. Although Pimsleur says that you should do one lesson a day, I average about 3 lessons a week. With 3 lessons a week, I get enough content to keep my lessons progressing, but Pimsleur doesn't work as well if you are not doing it everyday. For example, when I started my lesson today, I felt that I had already forgotten (temporarily) some of the things I had learned in my last lesson two days ago.

Honestly, I can't imagine doing one lesson a day in order to get the entire level completed in a month. I don't understand how an adult brain could accumulate so much information in such a short period of time.

I have gotten to the point that I have a hard time remembering all the vocabulary, so I have started to "take notes" during the lessons. I know that they are supposed to be all oral, but I can't help myself. I always end up with a pencil in my hand and I'm scratching down random thoughts and pictures to help me with the lesson.

I still haven't done my grammar book lessons this week. I selected which book I was going to work with: teach yourself Beginner's Russian Grammar. (I can't believe this book current costs $50 on amazon! I bought it at the local bookstore for $13.) I like it because the grammar lessons are modular and short. There is a one page lesson and then one page of exercises. Unfortunately I cannot get through the 3rd lesson because it is so boring. I think that I will skip around and do the lessons that I am most interested in rather than work through the book in a linear fashion.

tag(s): Pimsleur Russian

Happy Birthday

2005-03-24T20:04:00.000-06:00

A short post for those of you who have come to my blog looking for how to say happy birthday in Russian

Happy Birthday! Поздравляем Вас с Днем Рождения!
Congratulations! Поздравляю!
Best wishes for your birthday! От всей души поздравляю тебя с днем рождения!

I have been looking for a sound clip on the web so that you can hear what these phrases sound like, but I have not yet found one. I will continue to look and keep you posted.

You can find Russian birthday ecards at http://cards.mail.ru/

Rosetta Stone customer service, part 2

2005-03-23T18:38:00.000-06:00

I received a reply from the Rosetta Stone customer service guy today. That's prompt! He told me that the Russian language discs were still the latest, but the application itself had been upgraded. He has offered to send me the upgrade to the application. What great service!

I hope that the developers have fixed the bug that I encounter on a regular basis. If I do not close the application before leaving my computer, and my computer goes to sleep, then later, when the computer is up and running again, the Rosetta Stone application doesn't work properly. There is no sound and it doesn't respond well to my mouse clicks. Unfortunately, you can't save your place when you are in the middle of a lesson, so you must shut the application down and then restart the lesson from scratch (despite the fact that I was usually almost at the end of the tutorial).

After I receive the latest version (2.0.7), I will let you know if I see any changes.

tags: Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone customer service

2005-03-22T17:06:00.000-06:00

Today I called the customer support guys at Rosetta Stone. I recently noticed that my version of the Personal Edition Levels 1 and 2 looks different from the ones that are now being sold. I am not sure if it is just a packaging difference or if the software has been upgraded. I spoke to a very courteous man. He indicated that he didn't think the software had been upgraded, but he told me to email to him my software's version numbers (when I get home to the CDs). Although the queue to talk to someone was very long (about 20 minutes despite the operator claiming it was "less than an 8-minute wait"), the person who I spoke to was very courteous and non-scripted. That's a rare find in a telephone support environment!

I will keep you posted on whether or not the software has been upgraded recently.

Rosetta Stone Learning Russian

Postcards from Minsk: The new building of the central railway station

2005-03-22T07:20:00.000-06:00

This postcard shows the new Minsk railway station. It has shopping inside and the trains go to Warsaw, St. Petersburg and Kiev.

Evaluating my progress and planning new methods

2005-03-21T17:11:00.000-06:00

How do I know more Russian than I give myself credit for? I've been thinking about the fact that I was so pleasantly surprised at my Russian test results recently. I only expected to get one or two questions correct, but I correctly answered many more than I had expected. The question that I have been asking myself is why did I score much better than I had expected.

Today I read a blog post by Steve Kaufmann on The Linguist on Language blog. In this post he discusses the merits of not learning grammar of an L2. He gives many of the same "arguments" that are also given in support of the Rosetta Stone software. I undertook my Russian language learning on this assumption that we don't need to study grammar in order to learn language. So far, it seems to be working! Although I did buy a couple of Russian grammar books, I have not used them and I am not really interested in reading them. I do feel a tinge of guilt about avoiding these books.

I learned French by the typical classroom method and I am fluent today, so I know the old-fashioned method can work. When I compare the progress I have made by studying Russian on my own and compare it to the progress that I made during the first year of studying French in the classroom, I think that I feel more comfortable with my conversation fluency in Russian, but I am not as comfortable with my reading level.

I understand my CDs and software, I have learned a lot from them, but I have not gained confidence in my skills because I have not yet had the opportunity to speak to a native speaker. The test that I took the other day has given me one notch more of confidence. Honestly, I am still nervous about speaking to a native speaker. I know that I will make mistakes, but it am nervous about it nonetheless.

At this time, the only two tools that I am really using on a regular basis are Rosetta Stone and Pimsleur. Also, I check my Russian email daily (and I have learned quite a bit of vocabulary by clicking on the wrong links!).

I think that in order to feel more confident with my Russian reading, I should do more workbook exercises. To test this theory, I will continue doing my regular studies and I will add in 15 minutes of workbook exercises 4 times a week. Next month, I'll report my findings.

learn russian

Research on how babies acquire language

2005-03-21T00:19:00.000-06:00

I am amazed at the versatility of the human mind. This is a short article about research on how babies acquire human language.

linguistics

Lack of motivation

2005-03-20T21:54:00.000-06:00

I have not been very motivated to do my lessons during this past week. I finally got around to doing the next lesson of Pimsleur (11) and found that I have not remembered some of the vocabulary as well as I should be. I think that I will do a little homework on the web tonight in order to catch up and then repeat the lesson before moving on.

Now that I know N. will be arriving in two months, I should be more motivated than ever to do my lessons, but for some reason I am not. I think that I will work more steadily if I concentrate on my original goal: learning Russian for my own benefit and as a hobby. If I concentrate of having to learn X many lessons by a certain date, then it no longer seems like a hobby; it seems more like real work. Honestly, that is not what I want my language learning to be like and obviously, I do not learn well under that condition.

language learning

Marmot's hole pros and cons of Russian

2005-03-18T00:05:00.000-06:00

This is an interesting little post that debates whether to learn Mongolian or Russian.

learning russian

My friend N is coming to visit in May

2005-03-17T23:12:00.000-06:00

She promises that we will speak Russian during our visit and she will teach me some important phrases for being a tourist. But this just makes me nervous about my lack of skill in the area and I am going crazy about cramming.

Also, it makes me want to binge on Ukrainian chocolates.

ukranian chocolate learning russian

Linden & Denz Language Center

2005-03-16T00:00:00.000-06:00

Liden & Denz Language Centre St.Petersburg

52 excruciatingly tedious questions for me. It was far too uncannily reminiscent of my Freshman French placement exam. By the 7th question, I was way past freaked out partly because it was déjà vu and partly because I actually understood some of the questions. Have I actually learned some Russian? On my own? It seems impossible... although I have been working steadily at it, I don't feel that I know any Russian. This test proved that I do know a very little. A nimnoga very little, but a little nonetheless.

On the vast majority of questions, I just made my best guess. By the 45th question, I was exhausted!

And believe it or not, I actually recognized some of my Pimsleur phrases, although I had never seen them in writing. One of the phrases/words that we are constantly repeating on the Pimsleur tapes is the difference between: в ресторане and ресторан. Sure enough, it was on this test and I got this question correct.

Here's my score:
Total points: 15.0 out of 52.0
Your approximate level - Pre-Intermediate:
You are familiar with common structures of Russian grammar,
and your level, which we would describe as pre-intermediate,
allows you to understand Russian in personal and social
contexts, to react accordingly in everyday situations and
to express your opinion on topics of personal and common
interest. Accuracy and knowledge of peculiarities of Russian
are subject to further improvement. More work ahead!

Pre-intermediate? Can this be true? After a self-instructed, self-planned, self-motivated 6 months of study, I still feel like an early beginner.

Go take the quiz and see how you do!

language learning

Interactive Russian Language Program

2005-03-15T21:34:00.000-06:00

Grammatushka, an interesting site for beginning Russian thanks to Jodi.

learning russian

МонтеКристо Коньяк

2005-03-14T20:12:00.000-06:00

You know what that means? Yes, that's right: Ukrainian chocolates for my birthday. woo-hoo! These are very deep, dark chocolate that are so tasty and so strong. Monte Cristo chocolates with Cognac. I once ate too much Belarussian chocolate and made myself very sick. So, moderation will have to be my guide with these delicious birthday chocolates.

belarussian chocolate ukranian chocolate learning russian

Russian ecard

2005-03-12T22:36:00.000-06:00

Guess what! I received my first Russian e-card today! It was a birthday greeting sent through mail.ru. I was very excited to receive it. I now know how to say Happy Birthday in Russian thanks to the card.

So when I went to the cards section of the mail.ru site, I noticed that my birthday, 13 March, had a special icon! When I followed the link, it took me to a page of cards that had illustrations of people crying. What is that? I tried to understand the heading at the top of the page and as best I can figure, it says Forgiveness Sunday. What is that? Is it a religious holiday? I assume so since it is Lent, but why would you send a card to someone that had an illustration of someone crying?
Look at this card!!

russian

Russnet

2005-03-10T21:40:00.000-06:00

Today I registered with Russnet.com, a site that proclaims to have learning modules for students and teachers. The registration was simple, quick and free. The site requires that you use their special cyrillic fonts. They were easy to install, but I find them a bit confusing to use because the letters are not placed as if it were a Russian keyboard. For example, on an American keyboard the key for the letter "F" corresponds to the key for the letter "F" on a Russian keyboard. However, with these special fonts, the "F" key on the American keyboard corresponds to "ф". Yes, it seems logical, but I have already begun to get used to a Russian keyboard for typing.
So, after registering, I thought that I would being the first module. However, I can figured exact where to begin... there are many choices, but no specific starting point. I guess the site is geared towards students who have direction from a teacher. So I first tried the Russian WomenToday module. Its reading level was far too advanced for me.
I'm not sure what to try next. Maybe a blog reader recommendation would help.

learning russian

женщины: Happy International Women's Day

2005-03-08T00:00:00.000-06:00

According to my very official looking International Calendar, today is International Women's Day. Evidently it is celebrated in Russia and many other countries on our Earth. To be honest, I had never heard of it before, but it seems to be endorsed even by the UN.
I searched газета.Ru for information on International Women's Day and the only thing I found was a short mention of it in a recent interview with President Putin.
The three interview questions about women highlighted his seemingly poor public relationship with his wife... not that I know anything about Putin's personal business (OBVIOUSLY, since I can only read about every 20th word of the interview):
Владимир Путин признался во врожденной лени

So, Happy International Women's Day to all you women out there. Let's hope that Elisabeth Putin does, in fact, receive a pleasant surprise for the holiday.

Article on learning Wh- questions in Russian

2005-03-05T03:06:00.000-06:00

The acquisition of wh-questions in Russian

Nina Rojina

russkiblog

Check out Pauline's sweet 'stache

On break

Robin Williams Russian improv

New word, but no new flashcard

old school flashcards

Why do you learn another language?

изак, кошка

Asian Grocery

The Neighbor

stalking neighbors

борщ

My annual comparison of language learning tools.

Review of Mango Languages Beta Software

Font fetish

Russian Yarn Card from taiga yarns

вязание

Russian knitting magazines

Spoonful of Russian

Remember me?

Unity Day

Reminded by Manpower

Reviewing Previous Pimsleur

New strategy for using Rosetta Stone

In response to ondrej's comment from January

Back to reviewing Pimsleur lessons and beyond

It's all Greek to me

Librarything

Dead Souls

Hints or tricks?

Golosa, Chapter1

"Cyrillic flash cards"

Boy, I'm slow

Postcards from Minsk: The symbolic city gates in the railway station square

It's that time of the year...

Frequency word lists, are they helpful?

Funny English

Postcards from Minsk: The Roman Catholic Cathedral of Sts. Simon and Helen (The Red Church)

Happy July!

Postcards from Minsk: Ploscha Peramogi (Victory roundabout)

That's bunk!

Dave's Gallery: Belarus

Perhaps I'm not worthy of being a true Language Learner

Another Russian-learning blogger

My first Russian movie

Postcards from Minsk: The Cathedral of the Holy Spirit

Blog survey! Be a participant

Suspended from eBay he is!

Pimsleur guilt (again??)

UniLang Wiki

Not knowing is such bliss

More news on Belarus

I have been taking a summer vacation

Various ramblings

Movie recommendations?

The inevitable has occurred

Taxi driver, please take me to Red Square

Pimsleur is PG-13

Vocabulary building

Lessons on cassette

I did it!! I DID IT!!

Seattle

Postcards from Minsk: View of the city and of the Traetskaye Pradmescie

My new favorite Russian word...

Funny discovery

Trends in Pimsleur

Postcards from Minsk: Office of the "President" of the Republic of Belarus

Russian for Everybody

In French we say « il pleut des cordes »

Grammatushka

Guilt, once again

Disappointing news

Roots, roots, roots!

My newest book has arrived

RS 1-5-3 времена глагола

Language Learning and Multi-tasking

Plateau *sigh*

My inner European

Blogger

Another postcard from Minsk: Вiд на вулiцу Камунiстычную

Plateau sigh